This is the first of a series of newsletters written by Dan Duckworth. Dan currently serves as chair of the Leading Saints Board. He edits The Front Line: A Weekly Dispatch for Underground Changemakers.

Have you felt the pressure to command—to make the call and expect others to fall in line?

Or, just as often, the pressure to comply—to go along, fit in, and prove your faithfulness through obedience?

This is the tension every Zion-builder lives in.

You long to build something real—something alive with trust, love, and purpose.

But when urgency rises, or outcomes are on the line, the instinct to manage through control can take over. And slowly, agency gets crowded out.

Even the Lord, when He directed the Saints to gather to Ohio, didn’t demand compliance.

He said, “Here is wisdom, and let every man choose for himself” (Doctrine and Covenants 37:4).

The direction was clear. But the space to choose remained sacred.

That’s what distinguishes management from genuine leadership in Zion.

Leadership isn’t afraid of agency. It honors it.

Even when it slows things down.

Even when people choose differently.

Because real gathering—real Zion—only emerges when hearts are freely offered, not forced into formation.

So here’s the hard but holy question: Are you willing to suffer the organizational cost of preserving agency?

Can you make the call, but resist the urge to shame those who hesitate?

Can you lead without turning commandments into compliance tests?

Can you create a community where obedience is never performed, only chosen?

Zion doesn’t need better management. It needs more leaders who make space for transformation by holding space for choice.

So as you lead your team, your family, your ward, or your circle—pause and ask: What kind of community am I building?

Because Zion can’t be commanded into existence.

It must be chosen.

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Sincerely,
Dan Duckworth
Leading Saints

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